


I'm counting

by AnnieJ



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Its 1:18am. I made this in an hour., M/M, Pining, Strangers to Lovers, i love them, markhyuck, somehow i want their happy ending, they make me happy, they're my world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 10:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11667090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieJ/pseuds/AnnieJ
Summary: 17th of FebruaryA boy with reddish hair is staring at Mark. He is sitting on the bench and the boy is sitting on another bench across him.(His tan skin reminds him of summer eventhough Mark can feel the snow on his skin)The boy is still staring(Mark can feel the heat coming fromunder his skin)-Strangers!auMarks insane but donghyuck is there





	I'm counting

17th of February  
A boy with reddish hair is staring at Mark. He is sitting on the bench and the boy is sitting on another bench across him.  
(His tan skin reminds him of summer eventhough Mark can feel the snow on his skin)  
The boy is still staring  
(Mark can feel the heat coming from  
under his skin)  
-  
It is winter,  
But Mark swears for a moment summer came early.

19th of February  
"I'm Donghyuck" the boy says, hand reaching out to Mark who's still trying to remember him,  
(But guessing that Mark suddenly forgets that it is fucking freezing here in the park, Mark's pretty sure he remembers)  
"Umm..i'm Mark?" Mark answers, grabbing the boy's hand, who now has a name.  
Donghyuck leaves. Just like that.  
Mark's palm is red. His skin is screaming 'summer!!'  
He reminds himself again for the 100th time that it is still winter.

21st of February  
Mark now realizes that the boy (Donghyuck) comes to this park every 2 days. (After Mark tried to go here everyday to search for him. But he doesn't want to acknowledge that fact)  
Donghyuck's no longer staring at him. (Mark's a bit disappointed. He's too cold. His skin keeps on repeating Donghyuck's name)  
Mark is now the one who's staring.  
Donghyuck is looking at the sky, humming a song that's too quiet for Mark to hear.  
Snow is falling on Donghyuck's face, and for one second Mark has a courage to ask him if he's cold.  
He didn't  
(After that, Donghyuck left without saying a word to Mark)  
-  
"You missed 2 piano lesson already, Mark. Are the monsters coming back?" Mark's mom says after he came home with tons of snow on top of his head.  
Mark hates that his mom still call the thing 'monsters'. He's not 6. And he's pretty sure its not monsters. Its just himself.  
(And he blamed Donghyuck for his absence)

23rd of February  
Donghyuck sits next to Mark today. Mark is still focusing on his book about pirates and the lost boys.  
Mark turns his head when Donghyuck starts humming a song.  
He forgets the story on his book and starts to remember the number of moles on Donghyuck's face.  
(The boy kept his eyes closed.)  
-  
(Mark's still staring)  
-  
Summer came back.

25th of February  
The monsters came back. (Mark's mom would be satisfied for the name.) Mark starts running at the park again. He doesn't stop until his lungs are screaming.  
Mark sits on the bench, catching his breath.  
Donghyuck's not there. He's not there. And now every part of Mark's body is screaming Donghyuck's name. He's not there. He's not th-  
"Hey Mark. You can only finish like- 4 laps? That's lame" the sound is coming from behind.  
Mark turns around. He doesn't know Donghyuck would mock him on their second conversation. Donghyuck looks worried because he flinches when he sees Mark.  
But Mark is still fighting monsters in his head and his brows are still furrowing and he's still sweating and he still cant breathe.  
(But for the first time in years he realized that not breathing doesn't come from one reason. There could be several)  
One second later, Donghyuck's hand is on Mark's jaw and he pressed his lips to Mark's forehead.  
-  
For one second, he forgets about the monsters.  
Donghyuck quickly apologized. He turns away to leave.  
But the warmth he left stays behind.  
-  
Mark forgets about the monsters faster that night.

27th of February  
Donghyuck's not here today.  
Some of the monsters came early.

5th of March  
Donghyuck still hasn't came back.  
Mark's mom is crying. Mark doesn't say anything about the bandaids. He apologized instead.  
-  
He left some of the blame on Donghyuck. (Eventhough thats pretty childish of him. Donghyuck doesn't owe him anything)

7th of March  
Mark's still waiting for the boy.  
He feels stupid.  
But the bandaids on his house are running out and he just realized that he fucking hate winter.  
-  
He should stop waiting.  
He really should.  
-  
(He dreamed about Donghyuck's soft lips that night. 2 days later he came back)

11th of March  
Donghyucks there. And Mark's body goes limp at the sight of him.  
He pulled Donghyuck's hand and he took him to a small abandoned house next to the park.  
(Mark still thinks he pulled Donghyuck there because it's too damn cold outside)  
-  
Donghyuck looks baffled and embarrassed in front of him.  
Mark wants to kiss Donghyuck's moles. He almost lost it.

"You can't.. you can't just do that, and j..just leave" mark says, too quiet, but the boy in front of him hears him.  
Donghyuck doesn't say anything but he realized the bandaids on Mark's skin.  
"I'm... sorry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have kissed you. It's just.. sorry" Donghyuck answers. Still not looking at Mark's eyes.  
Mark sighed. He's still confused.  
-  
They're both quiet for a second.  
Mark closes his eyes. He decides that this is what he wants.

"C-can you do that again?.. the kissing part i mean." Mark's too afraid to look at Donghyuck. Missing the way the other boy turned red at his words.  
"Sure.." Donghyuck answers him.

-

He kisses Mark again.  
He kisses Mark on his forehead, while humming a song that will soon turn into Mark's favorite.  
He kisses mark on the bandaids that he put on his skin.  
Mark flinches when Donghyuck kisses his cheekbones. Donghyuck silently smiles.  
Donghyuck kisses the bandaids on Mark's neck.  
(Mark almost passes out. He can feel Donghyuck's breath and he can smell his shampoo and it's driving him insane.)  
-  
-  
When Donghyuck kisses the bandaid beside Mark's lips, still singing that damn song, Mark lost it.  
He grabs Donghyucks hand and pushed him to the wall, kissing the boy eventhough he can feel his skin burning.  
Donghyuck kisses him back, until they're both searching for air.  
-  
Mark leaves little pecks on Donghyuck's moles after the kiss.  
But reality crashes him harder than anything after that.  
Mark thinks that he is crazy.  
He pushes himself back off Donghyuck and he quickly apologizes.  
Mark ran away. He went home running. Lips swollen from the kiss. Skin burning. Head full of not monsters, but a boy who could change the seasons if you meet him.

17th of March  
Mark doesn't visit the park anymore after that.  
These days are the worst.  
There are more monsters, yet that is not the worst part.  
The worst part is that Mark thinks the summer boy must've hated him after that.  
-  
(Donghyuck went home that day feeling fucking terrible thanks to Mark. But somehow he understands. He silently did.)

18th of March.  
"You're not supposed to be here today" Mark says, again, without thinking.  
"Oh so you've been noticing my presence and counting the days?" Donghyuck smiles.  
Mark turned red but he is more confused at why Donghyuck is not mad at him. He was an asshole.  
"I..i just like somehow noticed it? Not that i pay extra attention and counting or anything" Mark says, he somehow tries to defend himself eventhough all the signs are all there. All in neon lights.  
Donghyuck chuckles.  
"Stop that"  
"Stop what?"  
Mark's confused.  
And scared.  
"Stop trying to act like you don't feel anything"  
Mark eyes goes wide.  
An epiphany hits him.  
-  
Donghyuck left him in his own silence  
-  
Mark wants to bang his head to the wall (or to the bench) for not realizing it sooner.  
(Donghyuck's not mad. He just got slightly pissed. The stupid boy must've been THAT stupid)

29th of March  
Mark is walking back and forth.  
"Hello, i'm mark, i'm 17. I'm not pretty sure that i'm gay until the day i saw you staring at me from across this bench. I'm just stupid. Like REALLY stupid. Like who doesn't realize that you like a boy when all i ever wanted is count your eyelashes and hear you sing when i hug you? Or when i kissed you that day and think that hearts actually stop beating once in a while and that your lips are so soft and I haven't had the chance to kiss your neck like you did to me and i want that so bad. -Like that is super gay.... and I'm totally in love with a stranger but your presence felt like summer and i fucking hate winter and how do you even do that? How do you make me all warm like that? How-"  
Mark stops when he hears someone laughs.

"Thats cheesy as fuck" Donghyuck says.  
(Mark wants to die.)

Instead of saying something about the ugly confession, donghyuck tells mark to close his eyes.  
He did.

"Hi Mark" Donghyuck starts. He is now holding Mark's hand. It is summer. Summer summer summer.  
"I'm Donghyuck. I'm 16. My house is literally next to yours. Catch up buddy."

Mark thinks about a boy next to his house that used to bring home a large bouquet of flowers for his mom on the 17th every month. Later Mark found out from his mom that it is the boy's parents anniversary date. But his dad died when he's 11. And since then, on the 17th of every month, Mark somehow always catches the boy with his flowers. (He forgets him somehow because of his packed schedules)

"I know you have problems, because you used to ran away at night. Mostly to the park. Or some days, when it's worse, you went to the beach on the other side of the city." Donghyuck continues. 

"I cant sleep at night because of my bad insomnia. So i used to watch you from my window. I always thought you were a crazy person or some shit."

"But that day when your mom searched for you, I was out and she asked me. She looked so worried and she must've been crying. You came back just then. We all know that you're not okay. But you smiled and laughed at your mom for worrying to much. 'I just need fresh air' you said. But there are bandaids on your skin and bruises on your knees."

"I still thought you were crazy."  
Mark silently laughs.

"One day, i bought flowers home and i saw you going back and forth in front of your doorstep. You kept on saying. 'For her. For her. For her' with your eyes closed."

"I realized that you're fighting something inside your head when you spoke to yourself. You said shut up a hundred times. That morning you ran to the beach right? I saw sands on your shoes"

"I guess i was intrigued when i saw you smiling at your mom when she opened the door. Like nothing happened. You must've loved her a lot."

"That day i want to know you more. You know? On the 17th?"  
Mark knows. He's counting. He just nods.

"I guess i started obviously staring because i just realized that you change your bandaids everyday on that bench and that day i guess you ran out and you cursed at yourself but you laughed. I bet it fucking hurts but you just laughed. Like a crazy person. Then you said that it is a sign that you should try to get better. That day i wanted to kiss your bruises instead of covering it up."

"But when i kissed your forehead. I just realized that you must've think that i was a crazy person. And you might not be gay. But you kissed me again and i swore you're just stupid because you looked at me like i am the fucking sun or something. Even i can tell the difference, idiot."

Mark's now laughing.

"But i guess i am always too overly confident. So i gave you time. This is my confession so you don't have to be embarrassed about your ugly one. I like you, hyung. You're brave. And so beautiful. And you should've let me kissed you everywhere that day."  
Mark's skin is burning and his face must've turned deep red because Donghyuck laughs.

They're now silent.

When Mark opens his eyes, Donghyuck's smiling at him. and Mark swears, the monsters inside his head suddenly disappeared. They all suddenly vanish.

(They must've hated summer, Mark thought)

Mark smiled back.

 

-

Their mom are so happy.  
Donghyuck started bringing flowers for Mark too on the 17th.

-

They're in love. So in love.  
When it's summer they have sleepovers and Mark kisses Donghyuck to sleep.  
(Donghyuck now could kiss mark bruises. Everywhere.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thankyou for reading.  
> Im drunk again
> 
> N if u want to say anything about this or bash it the comment sec is open
> 
> Ily even if u hate it


End file.
